I startled awake, gasping, as though roused by a dream of falling. In my disoriented state, I tried to sit up and found out I couldn't. It turned out I had been lying face-down on my stomach. Something sturdy but comfortable was under my head and chest, cushioning them.
…Hei's legs, perhaps?
I looked down to check. Nope, just bedrolls. And looking around revealed that I was lying down in a field. Stalks of grass brushed against my hand as the wind blew.
It was a sunny day.
I turned to look around. Not far away, my teammates stood looking out into the distance. They had their backs toward me, but Hei turned around, perhaps hearing my movement.
“You’re finally awake,” he said as he approached me.
The walls of the arena were nowhere to be found. Nor could I see our cottage, or anyone else around. Where the heck were we?
“So we won, right?” I asked. “And we’re still all alive?”
“We all died,” Hei said. “That’s why my hand can pass through you.” He reached down and gave me a pat on my head. “Oh, guess not. Looks like we’re still alive.”
I made a pouty :T face. “Wowee, OK Mr. Sassypants!”
“You need to stop thinking you’ve died every time you pass out. Come on.”
I grabbed on to his hand and fiddled with his fingers. “I heard the woman’s voice again,” I told him.
“As did we,” Saber said. “And yes, we did win. We won so decisively, the lady had to skip us straight to Silver rank.”
Mr. Atlas turned to me. “That’s what we think happened, at least.”
I rolled over off my chest to breathe easier. Blades of grass jabbed against the burnt flesh on my back, through the laser-holes of my jacket and t-shirt. I held back a yelp of pain and quickly sprang up to my feet.
I saw what the others had been looking at. We all stood on a hill. Below, far away in the pale morning air, was a town. Not a hastily-put-together settlement, or some barebone village. I saw a full-fledged town, with hundreds of houses, perhaps a thousand. I barely made them out as individual shapes at this distance, but some of them seemed to even be mansions of white stone, grandiose with towers and spires. Farms, clean rectangles of green and gold, tiled the town’s outskirts. Clear rivers caught the early light as they sparkled and branched through the town. During the two minutes or so while I observed, no buildings got lit on fire and there weren't any screams of agony. So that was a promising amount of social stability.
“Is being Silver a good thing?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Saber said.
For now I wanted to think we were in a better place. The town had food and shelter. And all the houses and farms could be a sign that people managed to not only survive here, but even settle in. The land itself eased me, and whispered for me in the wind like a familiar friend. This hill was the sort I would've seen before in my dreams, ran weightlessly across in half-awake reveries. Then I had been alone, but now here I was in the flesh, with Hei, and with my other new friends. I hated to admit it, but I liked it here, at least compared to Bronze. No arena walls caged us in; wilderness survival no longer concerned us. I'd miss Reens a little. But I was sure she’d be fine. One day, she’d find her way here too.
I hugged Hei from behind, letting my weight settle onto his shoulder. I had been so, so tired. My breath came out soft and trembling, beside his ear.
“Thank you, everyone,” I said.
We decided to rest up. The day was still early here, though I didn't know how much time passed while I was unconscious. We planned to have lunch first on the hill, then approach the town together to scout.
"What lives in the town?" Hei wondered.
"I don't know," I said. "Like, people?"
"Are we sure they're human?"
"I mean…actually, yeah. Maybe they're orcs, or elves. Or it's a town of dragon-people. Which would suck, if none of us speaks dragon-tongue."
Mr. Atlas eyed the town. "We'll start by surveying the farmlands. If we meet any hostility, retreat. Don't split up. We'll head back to this hill, and farther if need be. Saber, we might need your wall for escape."
A horse-drawn cart rolled up from behind us, passing by the foot of the hill. The horseman, a middle-aged human in overalls and a straw hat, waved at us.
"G'morning," he greeted in English. "Ya'll just came from Bronzie-Land?"
"...I…think?" I said.
“Come on board,” he said.
Saber hesitantly approached the cart. After a round of uncertain eye-contacts among the rest of us, we too followed her down to meet the horseman. His chin bore gray stubbles. Short ones, about a day old if I had to estimate. In the cart were sacks and jars. One sack had a loosened opening, and inside I spotted potatoes. I hesitated to take his offer, but the others seemed willing, so I followed them onto the cart.
“You folks make me wanna say you’re a newly promoted team,” the horseman said.
“Do Bronze people get transported here often?” I asked. “Because that’s what happened to us.”
“A steady stream of ‘em. Good to have you here. Them in the town call me Eric. Exposition Eric.”
“My name is Sophia. Nice to meet you.”
The horseman talked the whole trip to town. Apparently that was his job, to find new arrivals in this land where Silver players lived, and bring them into town, and help get them oriented. On top of that, he had a part-time job as a farmer.
The world of these death games was like a collection of pocket-dimensions, he explained. Each match took place in an arena, which presumably existed in its own pocket dimension. Bronze players were spread out across several "living area" arenas, with between 1 and 100 players per arena. Silver players were all here, in this town. Well, there wasn't any town when they first arrived, but they built one up over the years, driving back the untamed wilderness of the land they found themselves in.
"What's the town like now?" I asked.
"You'll see when we get there."
"I'm glad to see civilization again," I said. "The stuff we had back in Bronze doesn't really count. That's like…Dollar-Store discount civilization."
Eric the horseman told us a bit more about himself. He didn't receive any magical powers or combat equipment when he first began the death games. Instead, Eric was gifted with supreme physical prowess. He fought as a front-line brawler, whose only weapons were his fists.
"How long have you been here?" I asked.
"Oh, it has been a while. Hmm." Eric looked to the sky in thought. "Nine months, I'd say?"
"That long?!"
"Ain't nothing like Bronze here, you're in for the long haul. Plenty guys make it to three years before they die. Or before they get promoted to Gold, and they disappear off to wherever Gold players live."
Eric explained that challenges happened on a set schedule in Silver. Challenges were the same 5v5 matches as we had in Bronze, though there were ways to opt for a 3v3 or 1v1 instead. But most folks stuck with the 5v5, since that's what they did back in Bronze.
Four challenges happened each year, one per season. Summer Challenges had just passed, so we were lucky to have avoided those, and it'd be two or three months before the next round in fall.
"The ones that survive their first two seasons usually go on surviving," Eric explained. "As long as they keep giving their best shot, and no accidents happen. So remember to work hard. But enjoy your stay! To me, the worst thing you can do here is stop living life."
"...This is almost like a fantasy isekai," I said. "You could make a light novel out of our adventures, and it'd have a title like 'Starting Life in Another World as MOBA Champions!' Or…uh…'I Got Transported to Another World, Now I'm Forced to Fight Robots in an Arena!!?' Or…hmm."
"How about 'Three Lane Death Game'?" Saber proposed.
"That's kinda bland," I said.
We soon entered the town on a dirt path, and saw a big wooden sign that said "Welcome to Silvercreek" in English, with smaller text below in Chinese, Spanish, and a squiggly language I didn't recognize. Thanks to the Spanish classes I took in high school, I could tell that the Spanish text also translated to "Welcome to Silvercreek".
Farms bordered the dirt path on either side, though up ahead I could see denser neighborhoods closer to the center of the town. We passed a backyard orchard, where a lady picked pine-melons from neat rows of trees. She saw our cart and waved hello. Saber returned the greeting with finger-guns.
"Oh yeah," I said. "Eric, has anyone here found clues about how to get back? To the real world, I mean. Like, 21st century planet Earth."
Eric grinned at me. "Of course. We know exactly the way."
<END OF PART 1>
Hi everyone! This concludes the first part/arc of Three Lane Death Game. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. It's been a month since the story's initial release, and as planned, I'll switch to a twice-a-week schedule from now on (Tuesday + Thursday). You can support me by leaving a rating, review, and/or comment. As always, thank you for your readership!
